Bond

Bond in Scripture denotes any binding obligation or restraint. In the legal context of Numbers 30, a bond (issar) is a vow or sworn commitment by which a person binds himself or herself to a course of action; the passage governs the circumstances under which a father or husband may annul a woman's vow. The word carries a related sense of physical imprisonment or oppression (Ps. 116:16; Isa. 52:2), and the Septuagint and New Testament use “bond” for the chains and imprisonment Paul and others endured for the gospel (Phil. 1:7, 13, 14; Col. 4:18).

Paul's use of “bonds” (Greek desmoi) is notable for its transformation of a shameful circumstance into an occasion for witness: his imprisonment had become known throughout the praetorium and was advancing the gospel rather than hindering it (Phil. 1:12–13). The theological contrast between the bondage of sin and the freedom of Christ is developed throughout Paul's letters, culminating in the declaration that in Christ there is neither bond nor free (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11).